Tartuffe (Remixed) with Mark Rylance at Marylebone Theatre – review

Although author-director Darren Raymond’s version of this lofty but beloved classic is billed as being “after Molière”, Tartuffe (Remixed) feels closer in spirit to the original than did the Sandra Oh-led Martin Crimp take on The Misanthrope at the National earlier this summer. It’s certainly a lot funnier, and much more relatable. 

Like that previous show, this riff on a 17th century French comedy is set in present day London and preserves the convention of everyone speaking in rhyming couplets. But Raymond centres on an elaborate wedding between Adanna (Sara Mokonen), a Nigerian-British bride, and Jamaican-British groom Sinclair (Ivandro Da Cruz Leite). 

That culture clash between the two families is a fertile ground for humour and intrigue (“out-Nigeria the Nigerians…learn three words of Yoruba” advises Sinclair’s Jamaican Dad to his bewildered offspring at one point), and ultimately a certain amount of pathos. Also, the devout, unquestioning religious fervour of older family members convincingly explains in modern terms why, as in the original Molière, these people are fooled and swindled by a grandstanding charlatan like Tartuffe, masquerading as a man of God.

Molière’s Tartuffe here becomes scheming, hypocritical Pastor Blake (a barnstorming Mark Rylance, sporting a pair of false teeth that would be better suited to horse than human, and all bent out of shape like a broken coat hanger, endlessly preening as he casts stricken sidelong glances and mirthless smiles at the audience). He’s a duplicitous horror-show of a man but, of course, utterly fabulous theatrical company. 

Rylance may be the most famous name here but this isn’t the only star performance. Morenike Onajobi delivers a fiercely funny professional debut as Adanna’s BFF Kemi (formerly the meddling maid Dorine in the original Molière), an irrepressible young woman never afraid to involve herself in everyone else’s business. Nakeba Buchanan finds real depth and power in Adanna’s stepmom Elmire, the object of Blake’s lustful affections, completely floored by her husband’s willingness to take the priapic pastor’s word over her own.

Mokonen and De Cruz Leite make an appealing young couple entirely worth rooting for, and there’s hilarious, high-energy work from Craig Blake, Usifu Jalloh and Suzette Llewellyn as senior family members frequently behaving worse than those many years their junior. Several of the cast are alumni of Raymond’s Intermission Youth Theatre and Intermission Ensemble, admirable collectives that bring the performing arts into the lives of people who don’t automatically have access to them, and there is a palpable, wonderful sense of community on stage. Everyone is singing from the same raucous, life-enhancing hymn sheet.

If the acting overall has little truck with subtlety, neither does Raymond’s broad, warm-hearted adaptation, where an utterance like “I went to school with Mahatma Gandhi / I think it’s best that you unhand me” is probably as near to sparkling wit as it gets. Designer Ultz similarly goes for broke, creating a suitably kitschy-lavish set (although the scene changes, which basically involve moving a few tables around, become interminable) and costumes that are a riot of patterns, spangles and bold colours.

Tartuffe (Remixed) works for a number of reasons: it honours the beats and intentions of the original play, but reinvents them in a vibrant new way. It’s also an affectionate love letter to the sometimes contrasting traditions and beliefs of African and Caribbean families, and a gentle examination of how they stand up to the challenges of modern British living. As a show, it’s as big of heart as it’s loud of mouth and, ultimately, just an awful lot of fun.